Volunteering at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker dental clinic at East Sixth Street and Gladys Avenue, the dentist from South Bay has made the trip to the inner city on Fridays even while running his own thriving dental practice in Torrance from which he retired in 1998.

But Meehan, 76, is ending his service to care for his wife, Pat, who has Alzheimer’s disease. As he leaves, it’s entirely likely the clinic — nestled into a two-story cinder block building in back of the LA Catholic Worker’s soup kitchen, known as “The Hippie Kitchen” — will close.

The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, recently profiled Meehan and what he has meant to the people who often are overlooked in a busy world.